Wales Hold Scotland In Entertaining Draw In Cardiff

Scotland women were held to an entertaining 1-1 draw in their second match against Wales of a two-game series in Cardiff. The Scots ran out 2-1 winners the previous match in the opening games of new Head Coach Jen Wilson’s reign in charge.

From the outset it was a very exciting contest with Scotland playing some enterprising

hockey. The Scots made 10 changes in this match with many young players taking to the pitch.

Despite their strong start Scotland found themselves 1-0 down in the opening quarter. Wales scored the game’s opening goal from a penalty corner which was blasted home in the third phase to give the hosts the lead.

Scotland almost issued an immediate response but Fiona Burnet was denied an equaliser when her effort struck the post.

Scotland created the majority of the chances throughout the game in a very creative performance. There were good interactions all over the pitch and impressive possession hockey.

The Tartan Hearts battled hard even though things didn’t always go their way in the match. A strong penalty stroke claim was waved away in the second quarter and then the Scots thought they’d scored when the ball hit the net in third quarter, but found a short corner had been awarded instead.

2018-10 Wales v Scotland

Scotland went to a kicking back for the last eight minutes of the match and the late pressure was rewarded by a goal in the final moments.

A short corner was well placed into the D on the second phase, it prompted a scramble which ended when Kaz Cuthbert forced the ball home in a gritty finish to earn Scotland a draw with 30 seconds remaining.

Head Coach Jen Wilson said, “A draw was actually an unlucky result when you compare the stats and see how much we created throughout the game, let alone how well we performed.

“We started really well with the young players really following the footsteps of the more experienced players who played in the previous game. We were 1-0 down for the bulk of the game but this didn’t reflect on the performance.

“I’m very pleased with what I saw; the players achieved all the objectives I set for the match and to be achieving the things we are at this early stage is very exciting. Some of the players haven’t played much together but looked really good.

“We played 29 players over the two matches and this shows the depth and quality we have in the squad. It’s very competitive and there’s a lot of really good options within the squad. I’m very excited to see the team develop.”